Physical location: For current information on the location of these materials,
please consult the library's online catalog.

Language:
English.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

None.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Donated in 2002 by Greta Couper and Lisa Merryman (PA2002-012) and in 2003 by Richard Nordli (PA2003-003).

Biography

Mildred Couper was born in 1887 in Buenos Aires to British parents. She began her formal musical training at the age of 13
as a pianist at the Williams Conservatory in Buenos Aires. Couper graduated from the Karlsruhe Conservatory in Baden, Germany
in 1907. She also studied with piano with Moszkowski, Sgambati, and Alfred Cortot in Paris, Rome, and New York, respectively.
Couper studied art in Paris at the Grand Chaumiere and at another private art school run by Beronneau, where she met her husband,
artist Richard. The couple was married in 1910 and lived in Rome until 1915, when World War I brought them to New York. Mr.
Couper died there of influenza in 1917. Mrs. Couper taught piano at the Mannes School of Music.

In 1927, Mrs. Couper moved, with her children Clive and Rosalind, to Santa Barbara, California. She began teaching at the
Cate School and the Santa Barbara School for Girls, as well as maintaining her own private piano studio. Couper was also influential
in founding the Music Academy of the West, where she taught theory and harmony courses. In addition, she remained active as
a solo and chamber pianist and served as a critic for the Santa Barbara News-Press for 16 years.

As a composer, Mildred Couper is best known for her experiments with quarter-tone music. Her quarter-tone music was first
heard in Xanadu, incidental music for the Santa Barbara performances of Eugene O'Neill's play Marco Millions. Other quarter-tone
works by Couper include Rumba, Dirge, and Anacapa. Couper's orchestral arrangement of her Variations on "The Irish Washerwoman"
was performed by the Werner Janssen Symphony. Ingolf Dahl also conducted some of her works at the "Evenings on the Roof" concerts
in Los Angeles. Couper's ouvre includes chamber works, piano duets, solo piano pieces, vocal works, and several orchestral
works.

She died in Santa Barbara in 1974.

Collection Scope and Content Summary

The Mildred Couper Papers are divided into six series: Series I, Scores; Series II, Photographs; Series III, Newspaper Clippings;
Series IV, Correspondence; Series V, Miscellany; Series VI, Sound Recordings.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects

Composers--Archives.

Women composers.

Microtonal music.

Genres and Forms of Material

Scores.

Sound recordings.

Photographs.

Index Terms Related to this Collection

Ball, Thomas, 1819-1911.

Couper, Richard.

Collection Contents

Scores

Scope and Content Note

Series I, Scores contains manuscript, vellum, and photoreproduced scores and parts to many of Couper's works from her personal
collection. Sketches have also been included when available. Most compositions are undated, but most were probably composed
between 1930 and the 1950s.

Box 1: 1

Anacapa for Two Pianos (parts) (incomplete), Photoreproduction

Box 1: 2

Anacapa for Two Pianos (parts) (incomplete), Mss

Box 1: 3

Anacapa, Prelude to, for Two Pianos (parts) (incomplete), Mss

Box 1: 4

Anacapa and Prelude for Two Pianos (parts), Photoreproduction

Box 1: 5

Arullo del Burrito for Flute and Piano (score), Mss

Box 1: 6

Arullo del Burrito for Flute and Piano (score), Photoreproduction

Box 1: 7

Arullo del Burrito for Flute and Piano (score), Vellum

Box 1: 8

B.G. for Piano (score), Mss

Box 1: 9

Barnyard Cogitations for Voice and Piano (score), Photoreproduction

Box 1: 10

Barnyard Cogitations for Voice and Piano (score), Mss

Box 1: 10a

Barnyard Cogitations for Voice and Piano (score) (cop. 2), Mss

Box 1: 11

Beggar Boys for Voice and Piano (score), Mss

Box 1: 12

Childhood for Piano (score), Mss

Box 1: 13

Consolation for Right Hand Alone (Piano) (score), Mss

Box 1: 14

Consolation for Right Hand Alone (Piano) (score) (cop. 2), Mss

Box 1: 15

Dancing Bears for Piano (score), Mss

Box 1: 16

Days of Our Years, The, for vln., ob., pno. (bound parts), Photoreproduction

Box 1: 17

Days of Our Years, The, for vln., ob., pno. (bound score), Photoreproduction

We are Seven-Little Pieces for Piano (score) (published), Photoreproduction

Box 10: 10

Wedding Music (parts) (incomplete), Photoreproduction

Box 10: 11

Wedding Music (Sketches), Mss

Box 10: 12

Xanadu for Two Pianos (parts), Mss

Box 10: 14

Autumn Night by Neil Daniels for Piano (score), Mss

Photographs

Scope and Content Note

Series II, Photographs contains photographs of Couper's home in Mission Canyon, family and friends, autographed photographs
given to Mrs. Couper, and formal portraits of friends and family. Also included are photographs from a late nineteenth-century
photo album. The photographs in the collection include black & white photographs on fiber and resin coated paper, color photographs,
Polaroid photographs, tintypes, and other media.

Box 11: 1

Photographs- Autographs

Box 11: 2

Photographs- House (Monteverde)

Box 11: 3

Photographs- Family & Friends

Box 11: 4

Photographs- Portraits

Box 11: 5

Photographs- Album (Prill Family?)

Newspaper Clippings

Scope and Content Note

Series III, Newspaper Clippings contains newspaper articles about Mildred Couper's musical and social activities of note.
Also included are reviews written by Mrs. Couper for the Santa Barbara News-Press.

Box 11: 6

Newspaper Clippings (Couper as Author)

Box 11: 7

Newspaper Clippings (Couper as Subject)

Correspondence

Scope and Content Note

Series IV, Correspondence contains many of Couper's letters, financial and business documents, and concert programs.

Box 12: 2

Correspondence, 1897-1908.

Box 12: 3

Correspondence, 1909.

Box 12: 4

Correspondence, 1910.

Box 12: 5

Correspondence, 1911-1912.

Box 12: 6

Correspondence, 1913-1914.

Box 12: 7

Correspondence, 1915-1974.

Miscellany

Scope and Content Note

Series V, Miscellany contains items from the collection that
deal with Couper's life and career, including a compilation of
Couper's works by her granddaughter Greta, concert programs of
performances in which Couper performed, had works performed, or
reviewed, a watercolor painting of Couper's home and a guestbook from the estate.

Box 11: 1

Mimi's Music (compiled by Greta Couper), vol 1

Box 11: 2

Mimi's Music (compiled by Greta Couper), vol 2

Box 12: 7

Personal Writings

Box 12: 8

Financial & Business Papers

Box 12: 9

Photographs Found in Letters

Box 12: 10

Concert Programs

Box 14: 2

Guestbook, Monteverde

Box 14: 3

Watercolor, Monteverde (Eric Parfit)

Box 12: 11

Awards and Diplomas

Box 12:

Concert Programs

Recordings

Scope and Content Note

Series VI, Recordings contains 27 discs, primarily lacquer recordings of
her own compositions, often with Couper herself performing the piano parts, and two recordings
of her playing other works on the piano. There is also a recording of Honegger's King David. The relationship of
this recording to Mildred Couper is unknown.